First of all, I’m jealous of anyone who owns this hardback copy because the water on the front of the dust jacket is bumpy and I think that’s cool. I read this on my Kindle Fire, borrowed from the library. Not the same as bumpy water.
This picture is not bumpy. FYI.
I was worried I was starting to get sick of this psychological thriller genre — it’s definitely popular at the moment and apparently it’s all I’m reading. This book is also super popular with book clubs, which can be sort of a toss up whether or not that’s positive. The one genre I refuse to read is historical fiction, and for some reason lots of book clubs embrace it — read a biography, if you want to know the history of something. But don’t read The Other Boleyn Girl and pretend like it really happened. It didn’t. But I digress. And also, I’m going to do my best not to spoil this book, but I want to discuss it in detail, so you have been warned. There may be spoilers ahead. But if you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t be reading a review of a book if you didn’t want some details about it. Or you’ve already read it, and then I’m not spoiling anything for you. Either way — you have been warned.
This book, not surprisingly, has the same issues as In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware’s first novel. Once the mystery is solved, the character still has to find a way out of their situation, and that part drags and drags until the point I found myself not caring what happened and the details didn’t seem to matter at that point. For sure the whole first half was great, but by the time I was 70% done (I told you, I read on the Kindle Fire — you don’t get legit page numbers), I already knew what was happening and it was time to start wrapping up the story. I think Ware could have kept the mystery going a little longer and you’d have a better (and shorter) payoff at the end.
Lo, like Lenore in her previous novel, is a bit of a downer. To the point that I’m guessing Ware might be a bit of a loner herself. However, in The Woman in Cabin 10, Lo is much less obnoxious and at least tries to have some fun. She gets burgled right before leaving on a work assignment, and I’m pretty sure that would make me miserable as well. It was very Agatha Christie with the cast of characters, and maybe a few less people would have made it easier to follow. But you’re immediately on her side and you know she isn’t crazy about what she saw. And realistically, she would have started questioning Ben much sooner if she wasn’t such a flawed person. Not that it mattered, but I’m just saying. I also found it funny that she never tried to write even once about the experience. What if nothing bad had happened at all and they docked like they were supposed to and she didn’t have anything completed? She totally would have gotten fired.
Overall, this was a great book. Not re-readable, but memorable for sure. Ware keeps you interested and enough things happen that you start questioning different characters and their motives. And the ending is a surprise, although it comes too soon. The ultimate ending is satisfying and leaves some mystery behind for discussion. I like when the very last page teases with something more — The Circle has an ending like that too. Maybe it’s a requirement of the genre.
Not as good as The Girl Before, but a close second. Now that I mentioned it, what’s up with the titles of these psychological thrillers?
The Girl Before
The Girl on the Train
Behind Her Eyes
Behind Closed Doors
The Woman in Cabin 10
No way that’s a coincidence. My eyes are narrowing.
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